


Coffee and Unrequited Love

by BookofOdym



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Discord: Flarrowverse Shipyard, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-21 03:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17635259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookofOdym/pseuds/BookofOdym
Summary: Barry has developed a small (okay, huge) crush on Oliver, unfortunately, telling him is a bigger issue.





	1. Chapter 1

Barry knew that this had been a mistake from the moment that he had stepped into the coffee shop in Central City and realized that he actually has no idea what kind of coffee Oliver actually liked. He had been so absorbed in the signs behind the counter that he hadn’t noticed the curly haired barista trying to get his attention until he was, literally, booted forward by the man behind him in the queue. Barry would have said something, but the annoyed expressions of everyone else behind him made him think better of it, awkwardly, he stuttered out an order for a black coffee, no sugar, while the barista stared at him, probably in confusion. Typically people who had such trouble deciding wouldn’t have asked for something so simple.

Barry’s feeling of dread only grew during the journey, unfortunately for him, the takeout cups from Jitters were not designed to withstand supersonic speeds, which any aeronautical engineer would probably have been able to tell him. Sadly, Barry did not know any aeronautical engineers, and would probably have forgotten to ask them for their advice if he did, so he ended up covered in scaldingly hot coffee when the top of the cup flew off as he crossed the Kansas border.

He hadn’t wanted to show up to visit Oliver empty-handed, so he ended up shamefacedly stepping into another coffee shop just a block away from Oliver’s apartment, repeating his earlier request for a black coffee. With a sigh, he started towards the apartment, walking this time.

He hadn’t expected Oliver to be already leaving the building when he reached for the doorbell, but the door swung open right as he pressed the button. A flicker of surprise crossed the archer’s face, but Barry soon received a warm smile.

He swallowed, trying to push down the words that tingled on his tongue. He couldn’t tell Oliver that he loved him, not like this. Barry might have only recently figured out that he was bi, or possibly pan, he didn’t have enough experience to be sure, but that had been enough time to do some research. It was apparent that statistically speaking only about ten percent of people were gay, and since Barry already knew Singh, and Curtis, and Sara, and Kara’s Sister (although her universe’s statistics might have been different), Barry didn’t think his chances with Oliver were all that good.

The point was, Barry had only realized his feelings for the archer a few months before and wasn’t about to possibly ruin his relationship with Oliver by telling him about his feelings. Oliver would be straight, and then he would probably feel immensely guilty about hurting Barry by telling him he was straight, and then he might start to avoid Barry.

Barry would much rather be able to continue spending time like this so he could do this, he could do platonic.

Except Oliver was looking over him, eyes filled with concern, and Barry realized with a sense of growing horror that he must have been standing there in silence for several minutes. That was the other bad thing about this crush, every time he had been around the older man for the last few months, he had ended up embarrassing himself.

With a jerky movement, Barry held the cup in his hands out towards Oliver, one good thing was that the coffee might have actually cooled down enough to be drinkable after Barry’s little brain blip.

“I brought you some coffee,” He said by way of greeting, “but if you’re busy, I won’t keep you long.”

To his surprise, Oliver gripped his shoulder with an even wider smile, in fact, now that he was sure that Barry hadn’t received any recent brain trauma, he seemed delighted that the speedster was there. “I was just taking a walk, you can come with if you want.”

 Barry didn’t miss the way that the blond winced slightly as he took a swig from his cup, so Oliver didn’t like black coffee then. Barry had been so sure that a tough guy like Oliver would only drink that, or at least he had been when he was put under pressure. He would have to make sure that he asked Felicity’s advice the next time he visited.

“Are you hungry or anything?” Oliver asked he was polite enough to drain the entire cup of its contents before he tossed it in the trash. “You’ve come a long way, and knowing you, you probably forgot to eat breakfast before you came.”

Barry’s traitorous stomach gave him away, giving off an audible grumble at the mention of food, Oliver’s eyes traveled down Barry’s body until they reached his stomach, with a sigh, the archer gripped his hand, pulling him in the direction of a nearby restaurant.

“And why do you smell so strongly of coffee?” Oliver asked incredulously, apparently not having ever been told that it was impolite to sniff people.

Barry could barely stutter a response but that was hardly his fault, Oliver’s hand was _warm_.


	2. Chapter 2

Barry had been acting oddly that morning, Oliver felt, not acknowledging that that just proved how much attention he paid to Barry’s usual mannerisms. He wondered if Barry was having relationship problems, but decided to push that thought down, mostly because the idea of Barry being in a relationship made something ugly bubbly up in his chest that Oliver didn’t like to examine. 

“Mmm,” Barry groaned through a mouthful of his third helping of waffles, and Oliver tried hard to avoid imagining Barry groaning during another, somewhat more strenuous, activity, “this is so good.” 

The archer pressed the heel of his palm up against his mouth in a fruitless attempt to hide the warm smile that was developing on his face. It was evident to most of the people around them, but, luckily for Oliver, Barry was still engrossed in his food. 

If Ollie could just think of a ‘totally not a date’ date to invite Barry on, he could spend a little bit more time with him today, but his thoughts were interrupted by a string of gunshots sounding from somewhere across the street. 

Barry was up and in his suit within seconds, he didn’t even wait to see what Oliver would do, but he was back before the blond could even stand up. Of course, his return was interrupted by tripping over his own feet, which meant that he slammed into the concrete at hypersonic speeds. 

Oliver barely held back his shout of ‘Barry!’ as he ran outside, pulling the speedster up and into his arms. Some people turned to look at them but seemed to decide that he was just a concerned citizen helping out a particularly clumsy hero, and quickly decided to leave him to it. 

He wanted to ask Barry if he was okay, he wanted to tell him that he loved him, and he wanted to take Barry home and make love to him for hours, but what actually came out of his mouth was: “What the Hell were you thinking!” Oliver was great at ruining his own chances. 

Barry looked hurt, and his eyes began to shift into the puppy dog eyes that would have made the archer melt if he hadn’t just launched into a lecture. 

“Ollie,” Flash pouted, “it’s fine, it was just a scrape, and it’s already healing.” 

Oliver recognized that he had just massively overreacted, but, he wasn’t wrong, and he wasn’t about to apologize to Barry for being concerned about him, so he was meticulous in not looking at Barry as he offered his very small olive branch: “That doesn’t mean that I’m fine with seeing you get hurt.” 

The warning that Oliver would be distraught if Barry were ever hurt worse while around him was implicit, but Barry didn’t seem to notice it. He was too busy focusing on what basically amounted to a confession. 

The speedster’s eyes were as wide as saucers, and they were locked on Oliver’s face. He wished that the archer would turn towards him so that he could get a better idea as to what the man was thinking, but Oliver absolutely refused to turn his head. Barry knew that Oliver must have some kind of concern towards him, but this had to still fall under the realm of ‘platonic,’ right? There was no way that Oliver actually had romantic feelings towards him. Friends didn’t want to see friends hurt either, right? 

He was sure that he was just reading too much into things, he so desperately wanted something to be between them that he was misinterpreting Oliver’s feelings towards him. 

But at the same time, the older man’s arms were still tight around him, even after several minutes. 

Maybe he did have a chance. 

He was just going to ruin it because hey, he did have some dignity as a hero, he couldn’t stay in a ‘civilian’s’ arms for too long. Being held was nice and all, but he needed to ask Ollie to let him down gently. “Ollie,” he said gently, “you can let me go now, I really am fine.” 

The blond let him go immediately, Barry knew that he would, he wouldn’t do anything that went against Barry’s wishes, but still, he seemed conflicted about something, he continued to avoid looking into Barry’s eyes. 

“Oliver,” the speedster couldn’t hold himself back from touching his friend’s face. “Is something wrong? Are you upset with me?” 

The older man swallowed, but when his eyes met with Barry’s again, they were filled with resolve. “Look, I kinda want to kiss you right now, and I need you to know that because I don’t want you thinking I’m mad at you and avoiding me for weeks again.” 

“That happened once!” Barry cried, completely focusing on the wrong part of Oliver’s admission, his brain was still catching up with the first part. “Wait... you wanna kiss me? You actually wanna kiss me?” The excitement might have been evident in his voice. 

The blond nodded, a broad smile spread across his face. “Have for a while, but right now, you’re in costume, and I’m not, and since I’m planning on kissing you a whole lot more...” 

Barry understood, if they kissed as Barry and Oliver even a few hours after kissing as Oliver and the Flash, his secret identity might be at risk, Oliver just wanted to protect him. 

He might have run faster than he ever had before trying to get both of them back to Oliver’s place. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed, thank you for reading. I will try to have the second chapter up soon.


End file.
